Serbian Police Arrest Two Kosovo Serb EU Staffers

Serbian police have arested two NGO activists from the northern, Serb-run part of Mitrovica in Kosovo, who were traveling to Belgrade with illegal weapons in their vehicle.

Momcilo Arlov and Vuk Mitrovic were arrested near Negotin, eastern Serbia, in the night between November 2 and 3, an official from Serbia's Interior Ministry told Balkan Insight. The two are now detained in Belgrade.

Police said they found a number of short and long guns, ammunition, and explosives in the car.

Arlov, director of the Centre for Civil Society Development, CCSD, and Vuk Mitrovic, were arrested on their way to the Serbian capital.

The two men are also employees of the European Union in northern Kosovo, which has difficulties in employing people there because most local politicians refuse to have any links to the EU presence.

A source from Serbia's Department for Fighting Organized Crime, UBPOK, said the police suspected that the illicit weapons were bought in Negotin.

In Pristina sources in the EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, and the International Civilian Office, ICO, expressed concern about the reports.

But officials in Pristina were reluctant to talk further about the arrests of the NGO activists who are seen as a “bridge” between the EU and the alienated Serbs of northern Kosovo.

Local media saw Arlov as a favourite of the international officials in the north, which has been troubled by months of unrest.

Arlov and Mitrovic are officially employees of the EU Information and Cultural Center in Kosovo. They both act as EU Information Officers in North Mitrovica.